A local sports talk radio station here in Pittsburgh frequently has “free beer Fridays” on their show, giving away cases of beer to listeners each Friday. I thought it would be fun to do something similar here, but with food, of course. What better way to kick off the weekend than with some free food?! To start off, I’ll be running the feature every other Friday and introducing you to some of my favorite food finds – some you may know of, and some may be new to you. Here’s to some fun food giveaways on Fridays!

First up this week is a company local to Pittsburgh – Giant Eagle Market District. Giant Eagle is the major local supermarket chain here, and in recent years they have opened souped-up versions of their stores, called Market District. The stores include expanded produce, deli, cheese and bakery sections. They also have a massive cafe, a prepared foods area and a bulk foods section that will make you weak in the knees. Market Districts also host a lot of fun cooking demonstrations and are generally a foodie paradise. One of their new products is a Himalayan Salt Brick, which you use to cook on – like a baking stone, but it’s salt! Salt that’s hundreds of millions of years old. How cool is that?! I took one of the bricks for a test drive on the grill, and it was definitely as fun as it looks like it might be. The food tasted amazing, and had a fabulous, subtle seasoning.

Giant Eagle Market District wants to share an awesome rosemary shrimp recipe with you, which is perfect for one of these Himalayan Salt Bricks:

Even better, they are giving away a gift package that includes one of these bricks, as well as other goodies to get you ready for grilling season! See below for the details, and how to enter!

Giveaway Details

One (1) winner will receive the following gift basket from Giant Eagle Market District:

One (1) Himalayan Salt Block

One (1) Market District Pure Maple Syrup

One (1) Market District Balsamic Vinegar

One (1) Set of Pepper Grinders

One (1) Insulated Cooler Bag

One (1) $25 Market District Gift Card

How to Enter

To enter this giveaway, just answer the following question in the comments section of this post:

“What’s your favorite thing to grill?”

Additional (Optional) Entries

To up your chances of winning, you can receive up to FOUR additional entries to win by doing the following (these are optional, not required):

1. Subscribe to Brown Eyed Baker by either RSS or email. Come back and let me know you’ve subscribed in an additional comment.

4. Follow @browneyedbaker on Twitter. Come back and let me know you’ve followed in an additional comment.

The Fine Print

Restrictions: Winner must have a U.S. shipping address.

Deadline: Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 11:59pm EST.

Winner: The winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and announced at the top of this post. The winner will also be notified via email; if the winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.